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Title: The Locket

Author: Jessica Blair

Narrator: Marie McCarthy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-27-11

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

When Emily Thornton discovers a will linked with the murder of a sea captain in Hull in the 1860's, she is determined to discover what happened - but a vital witness is missing. So, Emily enlists the help of Thomas Laycock, a young man who has come to Hull to open his own detective agency. As the pair travel to Middlesborough and Whitby, the investigation unfolds, and their attention is brought to a locket worn by a mysterious young woman. Emily and Thomas are convinced that this is a crucial link in the case. Can they unravel the meaning behind this unusual locket? And escape the danger following them every step of the way....

Members Reviews:

A lovely gentle read

I really enjoyed this book, it kept me captivated by the language used and the easy story line, I will no doubt listen to another of Jessica's books.

Poorly read and tedious story

I agree very much with the previous review. I too downloaded this book as it is based in the North East. The narrators attempt at the regional accents was appalling. The story was slow and repetitive. I've listened to many books off Audible and can honestly say this is the first one I haven't enjoyed. Not sure why I've given it more than one star if I'm honest.

Disappointing listen

As I originate from Hull I was attracted to this book because of the familiar setting. I found the storyline predictable and thin and the narration appauling with the narrator attempting what I presume were supposed to be northern accents and getting them so wrong it was laughable. I am a huge fan of the audio book and this is the first time I have not been happy with a production. I would suggest anyone tempted to buy this book should listen to the sample first....I wish I had.

a delightful bubble bath!

this was my first reading/listening of a jessica blair and i was not disappointed. lovely characters & narration. brilliant story-lines all woven together, with no offensive surprises or bad language. a lovely soak in a warm bubble bath!!

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Title: To Love and to Cherish

Author: Lyn Andrews

Narrator: Carole Boyd

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-21-11

Publisher: Headline Digital

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Life in 1920s Liverpool for sisters Gloria and Betty Jenkins is secure and comfortable. Elder sister Gloria finds romance with the boy next door, until her wealthy, but snobbish and interfering Aunt Sybil steps in, offering her the opportunity of a lifetime. A trip to New York gives Gloria everything she desires - including a wealthy husband. Meanwhile, Betty chooses a career at sea, which offers challenges, personal danger and romance. But with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 tragedy strikes for one of the sisters and through these trials they come to value the bonds of family more than ever. Will they eventually achieve the happiness they desire? The enthralling new novel from the Sunday Times best-selling author and Headline's queen of sagas.

Members Reviews:

To Love & Cherish

I found this story very easy to follow and could not put it down once I started it. Lyn Andrews made it so easy to imagine myself being there. I loved the characters and think that Lyn Andrews is one of the best writers I have read in a long time. I have read more books in the last 3 months than I have in 20 years. I loved it.

Four Stars

A very entertaining read

Five Stars

Great author love her books

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Title: Spain for the Sovereigns

Author: Jean Plaidy

Narrator: Jilly Bond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-11

Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Married to Ferdinand after numerous fears and disappointments, Isabella triumphs over every danger, convinced of her own destiny. With the might of Portugal humbled, the court of the Sovereigns sees the rise of Torquemada and the establishment of the dreaded Inquisition. It also witnesses the coming of Columbus, who leaves the woman he loves to make a dream reality. Ambitious and unfaithful, Ferdinand longs to lead his troops against the Moorish strongholds. Isabella knows that together they can mould a united Spain and a glorious future, provided that it is just the two of them who share it.

Members Reviews:

Castile for Isabella

I only knew of Isabellanin passing from history class, her sending Columbus on his journey, and from books on Katherine of Aragon, her daughter, mentioning her love for her.

Plaidy introduces Isabella before all of this. When she's young, not certain to inherit the throne of Castile, in danger from her brother, his wife and nobels of Spain.

As usual Plaidy works her magic on history. You're drawn in from the very beginning. You sweat and remain calm when she does, you feel the hotness of Spain, you worry about her mother, her brother and you are rooting for her to get what she wants.

I liked that Plaidy spends so much time on Isabella's world and the other people are supporting players within. It sets up nicely for the next books in the series.

It was also a nice departure from the English series I've been reading and totally worth the detour.

Isabella, Juana and Catalina

They are the daughters you need to be concerned with as their stories and the most told, and most interesting of Isabella and Ferdinand's four daughters. The one left, Maria, isn't very interesting at all, and Plaidy states it a few times and spends next to no time on her at all.

This book focuses more on Isabella's passion for her family. While she may be Queen of Castile, she is a mother, and she struggles with which to put first often in this book. While she has four daughters she also as a beloved son, Juan. He is the apple of her eye and his story is so very tragic. As is what happens to all but Maria. Isabella, her daughter, tried to tell people the House of Spain was cursed and it seems so.

This book is really filled with so much upset and tragedy it's a wonder it's not so depressing you don't put it down. There are deaths, exiles, burnings, turn abouts, and downs. There is madness, sadness and at times a little gladness. Plaidy does a wonderful job showing the end of Isabella's years.

Five Stars

Good book!

Was she a real god mother?

It is a amazing book from Isabella's daughters. I even wish I had a mother like her, if she were not so cruel to the child of the others.

If you wnat to Know about Queen Isabella from Castille, read this book.

Unfortunately I didn't knom the history of the Queen Isabella from Castille in the fifteenth century. Now, thanks to this book, I have more desire to study about that sovereign.

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Title: The Heartbreaker

Author: Elisabeth McNeill

Narrator: Hilary Neville

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-19-11

Publisher: ISIS Audio Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Charles Edward Stewart, known in history as Bonnie Prince Charlie, landed in Scotland in 1746 to raise a rebellion against the English king and try to win back the British throne for his family but his attempt ended in disaster at Culloden. He only evaded capture by the English redcoats because a young woman called Flora Macdonald guided him across Skye to where he was able to board a French ship and escape. They never met again but the twelve days they spent together determined the rest of the course of their lives. In this dramatic retelling, Elisabeth McNeill reveals the man behind the myth and wonderfully recreates life in the 18th century, as she completes their story.

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Title: My Dear Children of the Whole World (BBC Radio 4: Saturday Play)

Author: Hugh Costello

Narrator: Hugh Ross, Nick Dunning

Format: Original Recording

Length: 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-12-11

Publisher: BBC Worldwide Limited

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Vatican City, December 1942. As war rages across the globe, Pope Pius XII prepares to deliver his annual Christmas message. It is perhaps the most important public address he will ever give. This BBC Radio 4 play explores the Pontiff's thoughts as he faces the starkest dilemma of his reign. Originally broadcast as the 'Saturday Play' on 29 January 2011, 'My Dear Children of the Whole World' stars Hugh Ross as Pope Pius XII. For months beforehand evidence has been growing of a vast, organised genocide of Jews and other races in German-occupied lands. Now the Vatican is coming under increasing pressure to speak out against Nazi atrocities. In private audiences, the British and American ambassadors to the Holy See urge Pius to show moral leadership by explicitly attacking Hitler in his Christmas message. Yet Pius is reluctant to specifically condemn the Holocaust.

He is concerned that speaking out risks making things worse. As Pius writes and discards draft after draft of the message, it becomes clear that there are other factors to explain his ambivalence. Europe's future seems to hang in the balance between Nazism and Bolshevism, and it is the latter ideology that he most fears. Stars Hugh Ross as Pope Pius XII and Nick Dunning as Sir Francis Osborne. Also featured amongst the cast are Pat Laffan, Patrick Fitzsymons, Stella McCusker, Stuart Milligan, Colin Stinton and Christine Kavanagh. Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.

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Title: Soldier In Paradise

Author: John Mort

Narrator: Jerry Sciarrio

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-11-11

Publisher: Books in Motion

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

John Morts compelling first novel embodies both the Vietnam combat experience and the sad aftermath for those who underwent it. Alternating between stateside chapters after the war and the Vietnam chapters dramatizing it, the novel creates a tension back and forth in time as well as geography. We participate in the trauma of combat in crisp and authentic detail, and we witness the effect of that experience on Irish Donnelly, a bookish, reluctant soldier, and his fellow infantrymen in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam. Transcending any political focus, Soldier in Paradise dramatically renders the alienation of Vietnam veterans, ordinary men whove had an extra burden to bear because of the protracted, brutish character of an unpopular war that never came to a satisfactory end.

Members Reviews:

A good, fast-paced read

This is the E-book version of a novel published in 1999. The novel won the W.Y Boyd Award for best military fiction.

It is a swift, satisfying read because of Mort's trademark style--fluid, deceptively easy but in fact quite elegant. It is the story of Patrick "Irish" Donnelly's experience in Vietnam, juxtaposed against his current post-service life. Probably one of the more accessible Vietnam War stories you'll read. Mort limits the number the characters, allowing us to feel invested in their lives and in some cases, deaths. One reviewer of the book called it a "fictionalized memoir." Maybe. But it is very much a novel in structure--the individual scenes build tension and then release--in spite of the alternating chapters (War, home). Recommended.

like the book

like the book , i served with the author in the same company in viet nam 69-70 tells a story well

great book good stories by a VN

great book good stories by a VN vet

Great characters.

This is a well written book. Great characters.

Deserves a prominent place in the pantheon of Vietnam novels

I just finished reading John Mort's novel, SOLDIER IN PARADISE. It blew me away. Mort writes in a deceptively simple style, but his story drew me in, SUCKed me in, keeping me up late turning pages - but slowly, in a thoughtful considering sort of way - and wondering what will happen next to his young-then-old narrator, Patrick "Irish" Donnelly and his rag-tag band of brothers - two of them actually, one bunch in Vietnam and the other, years later, in Florida. As I was reading this complex many-layered and Literary with a capital "L" tale, I kept wondering to myself: "How come I never heard of this book? It's been around for nearly fifteen years!"

Obviously SOLDIER IN PARADISE is one of those casualties of the publishing industry: a particularly fine novel that was launched with little fanfare, then promptly sank and disappeared. Well, as one of Irish's pals would have said, "Shee-ut!"

Mort, according to his jacket info, is a librarian in Kansas City, Missouri. (But he could be retired by now.) A librarian! Someone who loves books, loves good literature. And a guy with a wickedly dry sense of humor too, not shy about poking some gentle fun at himself as both a librarian and an aspiring writer. Irish casually mentions a male acquaintance of his - a single librarian - and the speculation that surrounded him about whether he might be gay. Implying subtly that the librarian job made him every bit as suspect as his bachelorhood. Then Irish mentions that he published "a few short stories in places nobody noticed.

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Title: Daughter of Providence

Author: Julie Drew

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-11

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Summer, 1934: Anne Dodge was raised by her old-money, New England Protestant father in the small coastal town of Warwick, Rhode Island. She has always been told that her Portuguese mother abandoned them when Anne was a small child, and died without ever contacting them again. After her mother's death, Anne learns that she has a half-sister, Maria Cristina, who was raised among Portuguese immigrants - and when Maria Cristina comes to stay with Anne and her father, ugly truths begin to surface about what really happened between her parents, catalyzing events that end in loss and rediscovery.

Critic Reviews:

"Anne, 23, is a memorable heroine and narrator." (Publishers Weekly)

"First novelist Drew draws a careful portrait of both social and family problems." (Kirkus Reviews)

Members Reviews:

H. Pollock

My friends think my love of historical fiction means I'm boring. To them I hold up this novel and say "ha ha!" Drew has, yes, given those of us who enjoy learning about a place or time via literature something to sink our teeth into. (I have never been so engaged by the details of labor disputes and the effects of the depression - surprisingly interesting stuff.) BUT, once you're teeth are sunk; you find it's into a juicy slab of flesh - the story is visceral, intriguing. The passions of forbidden love, love against all odds, mistaken identities, death-defying drama - all of the elements of a romance novel (rescued from baseness, that is) are wrapped somehow lovingly inside the story of a mother's love...it makes you feel like you're getting away with something! And, you come away as if you've read three or four different books, even though it's just one, gripping, first-off, from an author I'll be sure to keep reading.

A window into a different time/place.

Julie Drew's debut novel is a delightful window into the world of 1934 Rhode Island. Its a wake up call for anyone who occasionally yearns for "the good old days" or a "simpler time". Through a well developed cast of characters, Drew teaches us that there was plenty that was NOT "good" in those days, and that "simpler" was also synonymous with restrictive in terms of gender roles and social/ethnic class. She also gives us pause to wonder if being born into wealth is a more of a privilege or a curse. I eagerly await Julie Drew's next novel!

Left me wanting more

This novel is engaging, well-written, descriptive, and poignant. Its imagery steeps the senses in coastal New England; one can almost feel the humidity, and see the sunlight dancing on the ocean. The story reminds us of the fragile human condition of being from a broken family (aren't they all, somehow?). The end left me very thoughtful, and I wanted to know more about all of the characters; there are more stories to be told here, and I hope she tells them!

A great late-summer read

If a summer read is a book that takes you on a quick, fun trip, then a late-summer read is something a little more substantial. This is a lovely story that draws you in, gets you thinking, and stays with you even after you're done.

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Title: The Lady of the Butterflies

Author: Fiona Mountain

Narrator: Patience Tomlinson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-25-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

On the ancient marshlands of Somerset - a place of mists and magic - a girl grows up in the shadow of the English Civil War, knowing that one day she will inherit the rich estate which belonged to her late mother. Her father, a stern but loving Puritan, once a distinguished soldier in Cromwell's army, fears for his daughter in the poisonous aftermath of the war, and for her vulnerability as an heiress. But above all he fears and misunderstands her scientific passion for butterflies. Eleanor Glanville was in fact destined to become one of the most famous entomologists in history, bequeathing her name to the rare butterfly which she discovered, the Glanville Fritillary. But not before she had endured a life of quite extraordinary vicissitude.

Two marriages and an all-consuming love, which proved her undoing, a deep friendship with one of the great scientists of the day and finally, a trial for lunacy (on the grounds that no sane person would pursue butterflies) are all played out against the violent events of the Monmouth Rebellion and the vicious controversy over whether or not to drain the Somerset marshes. Now, if you drive down the M5, you will cross Kings Sedgemoor Drain - one of the first great ditches which reclaimed the land for farming and destroyed the precious habitat of the Glanville Fritillary.

Members Reviews:

Brilliant!

What did you like most about The Lady of the Butterflies?

The history of it is so interesting but not like a boring history lesson like at school.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Lady of the Butterflies?

Every time Edmund spoke, listening to Eleanor as a little girl, when she was pregnant, It was all very memorable so it is hard to say. I was shocked when Edmund died.

What three words best describe Patience Tomlinsons voice?

natural, unscripted and funny. She made me laugh so many times and shocked me and did exactly what she was supposed to do.She has a voice which is very nice and easy to listen to.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I know it's stupid but I was annoyed when she killed the butterfly. I didn't really get particularly moved but I enjoyed practically every scene.

Any additional comments?

Buy this book it is well worth it.

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Title: The House of Dust and Dreams

Author: Brenda Reid

Narrator: Sian Thomas

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 07-25-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Greece 1936. A young British diplomat and his wife have been posted to Athens. Hugh loves the life there but his spirited and unconventional wife, Heavenly, finds it hard to fit into the whirl of endless parties and socialising. When Hugh is sent to Crete to sort out a problem, they stay in a rundown house owned by his family. Heavenly falls in love with the place and the people, and stays on when Hugh returns to his duties.

As she tries to rebuild the ramshackle home, Heavenly makes firm friends with Anthi, a young woman from the village and Christos, the handsome and charismatic young builder. But the dark clouds of war are gathering and the island will become a crucible of violence and bloodshed in the days to come. For Heavenly, her friends and family, it will be the greatest test they have ever known.

Members Reviews:

Superb performance by Sian Thomas

The beauty of Crete, it's people and the hardship, but a community so well described of that time before and during the last war. A sensitive, charming yet a time brutal narrative. I thoroughly embraced the book. If you have never been to Crete, the island where God has his home, this book will maybe give you a special respect for it.

Such a beautiful story.

A marvellous Book

Would you consider the audio edition of The House of Dust and Dreams to be better than the print version?

Difficult to say! I read the sequel and didn't enjoy it as much as this one.

What did you like best about this story?

Having lived in Greece for many years I enjoyed the characterisation of the local Greek villagers, which was so true to life. The story was very moving.

What does Sian Thomas bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you had only read the book?

Sian Thomas is an excellent narrator and brings the story to life.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The part that moved me most was when Heavenly had to give up both her baby and the love of her life.

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Title: Terry Deary's Tudor Tales

Author: Terry Deary

Narrator: Toby Longworth

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

When a thin, pale boy called Lambert claims hes the rightful heir to the throne, King Henry VII is furious in 'The Prince, The Cook and the Cunning King'.

In 'The Thief, The Fool and the Big Fat King', James and his parents aim to challenge King Henry VIII - and win. 'The Maid, the Witch and the Cruel Queen' tells of 'Bloody' Queen Mary who burns her enemies at the stake and Old Nan the 'witch' who is far too clever to be burned, while 'The Actor, The Rebel and the Wrinkled Queen' sees James Foxton, a young player in Shakespeare's acting company, at the mercy of mean, ugly old Queen Elizabeth I...

Four exciting, funny stories based on real historical events from bestselling author Terry Deary.